- Meet my two best friends, Jack and Daniel.
- How to design sustainable intensification projects.
- All about the Aussie PGR “system.” What’s that you say? They need another genebank?
- I just know you want to go to the Global Conference on Women in Agriculture.
- If that doesn’t grab you, perhaps Denver Botanic Garden’s series of booktalks will. Tea & sushi, anyone?
- New FAO DG pushes all right buttons except for agrobiodiversity. Which is left for others at FAO to push.
Nibbles: Pepper, Indian farming, Indian farming, Rwanda, Radios
- Diverse alternatives to Piper nigrum. Tasty.
- How local indigenous people farmed in the land that became Massachusetts.
- How local indigenous people farm in Orissa: “rice breeds fish breeds rice“. More on that Koraput GIAHS award.
- Should Rwandan farmers grow what they want to, or what the government tells them to?
- Have you heard the news? Transistor radios may be more important to poor farmers than mobile telephones.
Nibbles: Apples, Koraput recognized, Nuts
- Cynthia gives us her personal history with apple diversity, and the history of Tarte Tatin; yum!
- Farmers in Koraput, India, recognized as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS).
- Ugandan farmers who select one of four new groundnut varieties increase incomes. Good to know. What happens to the old varieties?
Parmigiano Reggiano on the wheel
I’m not sure how widely known it is that the two recent earthquakes in northern Italy, apart from the tragic loss of life, destruction of homes and damage to historical buildings, are also likely to have a significant effect on livelihoods, and not least because of the impact on the production of the iconic cheese of the region, Parmigiano Reggiano. From the Facebook fan page of the consortium of producers, I see that 24 firms are affected, for a total of 300,000 40kg wheels damaged, or 10% of production. The advice of the Consorzio del Parmigiano Reggiano for those who would like to help is to keep buying the stuff. No need to ask me twice.
Nibbles: Rice genes, Wheat flour
- “[R]ice plants in hotter and drier parts of Australia tend to be more genetically diverse“. Which means, natch, that they’re “a bulwark against climate change”.
- USDA tests wholewheat flour from 14 different varieties for their value in baking. Which varieties? They aren’t saying.